Josh Warrington vows to avenge loss to Mauricio Lara
When he last stepped in the ring, featherweight boxer Josh “Leeds Warrior” Warrington (30-1, 7 KO’s) was on top of the world. He was undefeated, highly ranked and widely praised. That was all before he suffered his first professional loss, by knockout, at the hands of Mauricio “Bronco” Lara (23-2, 16 KO’s). Naturally, he was stripped of his unblemished record, fell in the rankings and succumbed to a bit of temporary disillusionment.
Since that impactful setback, Warrington has dusted himself off and is eagerly awaiting their upcoming rematch. When they collide again, as he told Pep Talk UK, Warrington intends on correcting his past blunders.
“Yeah, it does feel like it’s a lot on the line, so I am treating it like it is a massive night. I am not treating it likes it’s just Mauricio Lara. He’s become a big name in my entire life…this time around, all my attention, my whole camp has been about Mauricio Lara and that will be the difference on the night. The way that I approach it, mentally. Like you said, I know what he’ll bring, so it will be different.”
A CRUCIAL DO OVER
Despite getting himself back in the game, Warrington admits that the loss was not the easiest to overcome.
“The injuries were a distraction to the mental side of it. And then, when my injuries recovered, physically I was okay. Then, mentally, it started to bother me. You know, it was like, ‘shit what’s happened? I’m fucking number one in the world, Ring magazines ranks number one, Boxrec ranks number one, all of a sudden I’ve just disappeared out of the fucking top five?!’ Now it’s all just come crashing down, I don’t know when will be my next out…and it gets to a stage where you think, ‘what’s going to happen?’ Then my mindset became: do something about it! Do something about it, you’re in control of your own destiny!”
It should go without being mentioned that there is a great deal on the line for the Leeds Warrior. A win puts him right back on track and goes a long way to erasing that regrettable night in the ring. A loss however, and back-to-back at that, would be catastrophic at this point in his career. Sure, he could still bounce back, but it will be that much more difficult. So, we’ll just have to wait and see what adjustments Josh Warrington can make in his second dustup with Mauricio Lara.
By: Bakari Simpson
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